I finally worked up the nerve to do it. Ordered an NXS 8-32 for a benchrest gun I'm putting together. Scope should be here soon. All of the extra overtime I worked last fall was for this. If you other NF owners have a few words that might soothe my aching debit card, they would be appreciated. I'm going to eat some chicken noodle soup and go to bed now.

The NF is the way to go, better glass than a Leupold Mark4, better and tactile adjustments. Zero Stops, High Speed turrets. They are sure nice. I'm glad i pull the trigger on one. For the weekend coyote warrior it is not justifiable. I picked up the 5.5-22x50 NP-R1. Makes the long shots a lot easier when you can pinpoint a spot on a coyote, instead of guess.

Enjoy the scope.

xdeano

“It’s better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb.” -Mussolini

Thanks Xdeano,NF scopes seem to be a favorite of people that hunt critters that shoot back. I wanted the utmost in reliability and good glass. Right now is the hard part. The money is gone and the scope isn't here yet. I'm sure I'll be glad I took the leap. It was roughly 3x what my other "expensive" scope costed me!!! Thanks for the encouragement man, I needed it.

I chatted with Ron Spomer Awhile back about scopes, Here is some good info I got from him .....

Light transmission through the scope is what we're concerned with. The more light you let in (larger objective lens) the brighter the image. But, the higher the magnification, the darker the image. Divide the objective diameter in MM by the magnification (say 10x50mm) and you get an Exit Pupil (the little circle of light you see in the eyepiece when you hold a scope about 18 inches from your eye.) This EP corresponds to our own pupils which dilate from about 2mm in bright sun to 7mm in darkness. If the scope's EP is smaller than our own, we don't get as bright a view as we could. Ideally, a scope's EP should be 7mm wide to match our pupils in dimmest light. BUT, with age, our dilation decreases, perhaps as much as 2mm or 3mm. Highly variable. In general, I've found that a 4mm EP is adequate for putting a black crosshair onto a medium-toned animal (deer, coyote) 45 min. after sunset, perhaps an hour after (depending on other brightness factors I'll cover below.) So, a 42mm scope divided by 10X power gives you a 4.2mm objective, which I find more than adequate for 99 percent of my shooting. If I were specializing in super long range shooting after sunset and didn't need to carry the scope all day, I'd get a 50mm or even 56mm objective in order to keep the EP above 4mm at higher powers. A 15x50mm would yield a 3.5mm EP. A huge 56mm objective would only increase that to 3.7mm. A 10x55mm would give you 5.5mm. To get a maximum brightness from a 7mm EP, you'd need a 10x70mm scope. Probably ain't gonna find one.

Now, here's what really makes a huge difference in brightness: Anti-reflection coatings. They don't weigh anything, don't enlarge the physical size of the scope but more than double the light transmission. Here's how: raw glass reflects about 4 percent of light striking it and another 4 percent leaving it, for a loss of 8 percent per lens. Scopes have as many as 8 lenses total. Do the math, folks. One layer of magnesium sulfide anti-reflection coating cuts that reflection loss in half. Additional layers can knock it as low as 0.02 percent per air-to-glass surface. The end result is that using maximum layers of anti-reflection coatings produces scopes that transmit 95 percent of more of the light that enters. Combine that with a 4mm or larger EP and you're doing the best you can.

This means that a perfectly, multi-coated 10x40mm scope can easily transmit a brighter image than a poorly coated 10x56mm. Cheap 50mm and bigger objective scopes often add a "field stop" inside the main tube just behind the objective. This looks like a common washer and largely is. It's job is to eliminate poor-quality edge light from the big lens, which makes for a sharper image. This is what apertures (f-stops) in a camera do. It's a gimmick enabling companies to make/sell cheap scopes with huge objectives. But there is little or no brightness advantage.

The other thing anti-reflection coatings do is increase contrast by controlling flare and glare. Reflected light bounces around in a scope to create that fuzzy, foggy-looking haze we most commonly see when we look toward the low sun with a cheap scope. The entire view becomes muted, usually tinged orange. This is from all that uncontrolled, reflected and re-reflected light bouncing around inside. It's plenty bright, but not useably bright. Stop the reflections and you end up with a saturated view with crisp images that stand out. You can check all this stuff by aiming your scopes just off the low sun at sunrise and set. Do it with expensive and cheap models and you'll soon see the differences. Be sure to clean dust from the objective lens because all those dust specks reflect light to create haze and a dim image.

Increased contrast is useful because it helps us see the difference between subtle color hues like gray sagebrush and a coyote pelt, deer antlers and branches. Contrast increases resolution in low light situations.

By the way, if your scope has side parallax adjustment, it has an extra lens inside. Parallax adjustment is simply turning a lens to perfectly focus the image onto the reticle.

There's a lot going on in a scope, but since most of it is hidden in that dark tube, manufacturers can pull the wool over our eyes.

Anybody got any idea on how well Zeiss or Swarovski or March scopes compare with the NF scopes? Just wondering how they stack up in clarity and repeatability. I have been giving some serious thought to doing something financially irresponsible and this might help me make a choice. My "expensive" scope now is a Leuold VX 3LR in 4.5 x 14 with the Varmint hunters reticle but hey, who doenst need a fancy new scope ot relearn how to shoot.

I can't comment on the scopes you named. I would only be repeating what I've read elsewhere. No personal experience with them. One of the things that sold me on the NF is that they hold their value extremely well. If I decide I don't like it I can sell it for a couple hundred less than what I paid for it. Not good but not the end of the world either. The same could be said for your Loopy, I'm guessing. Financially irresponsible... I really like that phrase. My laptop refuses to let me use the smily face, otherwise I would sure give it one.

I belong to a small group of guys that go out in the winter month's and either hunt coyotes or call them. Most of the members of the "Winter rifleman" group are also writers for certain magizines and such.. Some of them when they do a write up on certain products they will literly take it apart to see what makes it tick and find out what makes it better than another... Lots of good info I get from them...

Here is another reply I got from Ron that may answer a few questions..

Night Force scopes appear to me to be slightly superior to Leupold's VX3 line in optical precision and overall fit/finish and durability. But I haven't compared NF against Leupold Mark Vs. This is an an important point. Many scope makers have several lines from cheap to high dollar, so you have to compare the proper classes. NF were/are designed for heavy duty, military sniper work, as are the Mark Vs. You pay a weight penalty for the big, tough sniper scopes, but they are durable and tough. Zeiss are super precise, of course, and their range finding scope is unbelievable. So's the price. My compromise for spot and stalk coyote work would be the Zeiss RF binocular (ranges to 1,700 yards in a half second, one push of the button -- best in the business) coupled with either a MOA dial scope or one with multiple reticles. Check out Vortex's newest sniper scopes. They are surprisingly excellent and precise. I'd opt for the one without the windage MOA turret and use the MOA harsh marks on the reticle for holding into the wind. Faster, just as effective. One dial to turn is enough for me.

BTW Tim, you might be interested to know that it was one of Spomer's articles that got me started down the road of the fast twist 22 cf. I can't remember if it was in Rifle or Handloader. It was about a 22-250 AI Holland did for him.